The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #76 - Reminder

We're in delightful company this month over at Christmas Kickstart Challenge as we play Gingerbread Treats along with Carol from Just Me:c. 

Carol has very kindly made not one, but two beautiful cards for our reminder post and I know you're going to love her witty, and rather yummy, creations!

Here's a little reminder of the card, and the gorgeous tag, Carol made for the Challenge launch post.

I always like to base my reminder card on our elf's card by way of a little thank you gesture, and also because it helps me create something I wouldn't usually make. I was so blown away by Carol's beautiful work that I had no idea how to make my 'Inspired by...' piece. I had a sudden light bulb moment when I focused on the list of delicious Christmas treats on the Bakery board. After much rummaging in my stash I came up with this!

Completely different to Carol's card, yet very much inspired by it! I had so much fun putting this together and obviously, she's mixing gingerbread in her bowl! The main image is Agnes from Kraftin' Kimmie, and I've paired her with a LOTV friendship recipe stamp. The other stamps are from Jane's Doodles. Somehow I've created a card using stamps from a group of companies that no longer exist in their original form!

I also made this little card, again using that adorable Jane's Doodles Gingerbread Man stamp. 

Rudolph has a gingerbread-themed prize for his Random Raffle for this challenge...

  

At time of writing we only have 4 participants in this fun challenge. Carol and I very much hope that a few more of you will join us, especially as it's only 163 days until Christmas! 

Seize the Birthday - Watercolouring!

It's my final appearance as Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday - boo hoo!

I want to thank Nancy and the guys for inviting me as I've had a blast and loved every minute.

The challenge for the next two weeks is 'Watercolouring'. To be honest, I haven't yet produced a water coloured card that I like. 😢 It's a technique I love but need to practise, so I decided to 'cheat' and go for a smoochy, watercolour background for my little Kraftin' Kimmie bookworm. After stamping the sentiment I ran the background through the Cuttlebug.

I very much hope you'll play along with this challenge and leave lot's of love for the DT crew when you visit.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #161 - I is for Inks

We have a gorgeously inky Edna as our inspiration graphic for this challenge!

I do love playing with my inks and had a fabulous time with a new Visible Image stencil and this gorgeously fuchsia Distress Ink. The new toys didn't end there as I couldn't resist a little Lockdown treat of a cute set of girlies from Kraftin' Kimmie. I paired the skater girl with a nice snarky sentiment and then layered her onto an inky layer created with a beautiful Hero Arts flower and Parrot coloured ink from Altenew.

I have to say that I really enjoyed making this card! My sisters have inked-up some fabulousness and we have a new Queen - so come along and join the fun!

Seeing Stars...

Hi everyone, we're now half-way through our current challenge over at Naughty Or Nice which is 'Seeing Stars'. To play along all you need to do is include a star or a bunch of stars on your project.

As you know from my previous post I missed the start of this challenge due to life throwing a few curve balls in my direction. However, I decided to finish my card which you can now see over on the NON blog. The Troublemakers have once again created some fabulous, fun inspiration to get you started. You'll also see two stunning cards from previous NON challenge winner LesLee Stone Rasmus who joins us as guest DT member for July. By a strange quirk of card making fate LesLee was my Card Chain Challenge sender for July so I'm doubly glad to see her appear as our guest this month.

I thought this Kraftin' Kimmie stamp (Marilyn) was just perfect for the current theme and decided to ramp-things-up and make my first shaker card!

I enjoyed the additional challenge and will definitely make further shaker cards. As always happens when creating something for the first time, I've learnt a few things to do differently on future projects. However, one thing I won't change is to use fun foam for one of the internal layers as I'm very pleased with the tidy look this gives the finished card. I covered Marilyn's dress and shoes with more Wink of Stella than you can shake a Wink of Stella Pen at and it twinkles beautifully. The sentiment comes with the Marilyn image and is one I fully endorse as someone who works in education.

And check out the gorgeous sequins! No prizes for guessing they come from Lucy's Sequin Shaker Selections which you can buy over at Simon Says Stamp or from Lucy's Folksy shop. I mixed sequins from Glacier and Caribbean Dream for this card. You get plenty of sequins and sparkly stuff in each bag and the choice of colours is lovely.

There's still plenty of time to play along with our star spangled challenge and we already have some great 'nice' cards linked-up but if you wanted to be a little naughty we would love to see what you can come up with!

Happy crafting!

A Messy Marilyn!

Hi there Blogland, I'm sorry I've been AWOL again. Work has been super busy, and also my Dad has just had surgery. Hopefully he is on the mend now, but you can't help but worry can you?!!

I nearly decided not to show this card as I'm not loving it very much. Don't be surprised if my next post is titled something like 'a makeover for Marilyn'. There's just too much splodgy stamping.

 

Just a quick query but has anyone else lost all their Blogger follower icons? Mine have all vanished... and its kinda lonely without all your lovely smiling faces to greet me when I log on. Any thoughts you might have would be most welcome.

So have a happy weekend everyone, I hope it brings you lots of crafty fun!

Twinkle, twinkle, little star!

I bought this great stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie a while ago, but didn't get it inked up until yesterday. What was I thinking leaving it sooooooo long??!

Once again my card is very CAS, but that seems to be where my head is these days.

Finally, I hope you won't mind a very proud auntie sharing a picture of her sweet niece all dressed up for her first day at school.

So cute!

Thanks for dropping by, and happy crafting everyone!

Cheers to you!

Brrrrrr, it's so chilly today!
Thankfully my craft room is the cosiest room in the house so what a great excuse to spend the day there.
There's so much that I'm not sure about with this card... but I love the colours, the sweet sketch, the cute buttons and Kraftin' Kimmie's Sophia.
The papers are oldies from Stampin' Up as one of my resolutions for 2012 is to use my stash rather than hoarding it. The stripes on the top half of the card were supposed to go vertically but guess who stuck the paper down before she realised!
This card is for my sweet friend Karen. I think Sophia really should be quaffing white wine as that's Karen's favourite tipple, but I'm sure she wouldn't turn her nose up at something pink with an olive in it.
Hubby finished the fence over the weekend (he worked so hard) and it looks great. The only problem is that the cat is scared of it as he doesn't like change!

This card is for the following challenges:
The Pink Elephant - use your favourite colours.
The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything goes with blue
Sketch Saturday - a lovely sketch (which I can't paste onto my desktop for some reason).
ABC Challenge - H is for Happy Birthday.
Happy Crafting everyone!

Happy New Year, darlings!

Hi everyone, just a quick visit to wish you all a very happy new year.
I hope it brings you happiness, good health and lot's of crafty fun.

Sweet Bridget

Here's sweet Bridget in her bath once again... that lady certainly likes to relax!

I won't share all the retirement cards that I'll be making featuring Bridget, but I thought I'd share this one as it's so bright and cheery!

I used this cute sketch from Allsorts Challenge Blog Week #99. As you can see I rotated it slightly!

I really enjoyed playing with those bright colours from the Basic Grey Lime Rickey pad.

This week the SCSC gang are asking for stitching on your card for Challenge #130. I haven't managed to play along at SCSC for a few weeks so it'll be good to link up with the girls once again.

I'm entering this card for the current Samuel Taylor challenge which is 'Distressing', and also the ABC Challenge 'Sugar and Spice' as Bridget has both in equal measure!

Happy birthday to Sir Stampalot who are celebrating their 1st birthday with the April Challenge 'Ladies and fashion'. Finally, I'm linking up with a Passion for Promarkers as this week their theme is 'Make your own embellishments'. Hope the flowers and the ticket, which I printed on my PC, fit the bill!

Happy crafting everyone, and enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Just the ticket!

We are currently enjoying a mini-heatwave here in the UK! Hubby is basking on the patio, so I thought I'd sneak in and finish a card that I started yesterday. This one is an 'Early Retirement' card for a former colleague. I'll be making plenty of retirement/leaving cards over the next few weeks and months, as many of my colleagues are taking voluntary redundancy and leaving the council.

The image is a Kraftin' Kimmie stamp called Bridget. Isn't she fun?

I ordered Bridget and the Treasured Moments Ticket stamps from Bunny-Zoe Crafts.

I printed the sentiment on my PC and used a stamp positioner to line up the ticket image over the top. The papers are all scraps and as a result they have all lost their labels. I think they might be called Black Tie? The white spotty 'paper' is my favourite Hero Arts background stamp.

The lovely sketch for this card is from Sweet Sketch Wednesday and I'm playing along with CES Challenge #31 which is Monochromatic and The current ABC Challenge which is R is for Ribbon!

Have a happy Sunday everyone!

One Beautiful Ballerina!

I must say that I think Annie Rodrigue has surpassed herself with this fabulous new stamp! The brilliant new range of Kraftin' Kimmie stamps are now available over at Bunny Zoe's Crafts.

All of the new stamps are dance themed and great fun, but this little 'Angry Ballerina' grabbed my attention and then pirouetted into my shopping cart.

I know it's a bit corny but I just couldn't resist the 'sentiment'!

This is a tent card made with the help of Dena's great instructions over at The Just Magnolia Challenge Blog. In the end I placed the ballerina on the front of the card, rather than suspending her, as I wanted her to look like she was standing in the spotlight. Not quite sure if it works, but I had lots of fun trying!

I cut the large circle with my Mom's Martha Stewart Circle cutter... not easy to use, but gave a good effect. I read the instructions very carefully as Mom cut herself on the blade the first time she used it.

Now that I have seen the card on the screen I plan to try and make the curtains look a bit more 3-D. It never fails to surprise me how different a card can look on the screen. I often work on a card again after seeing it on the PC as all the faults and crooked lines become magnified and obvious!

Happy crafting everyone!

A little love potion number 9!

Just to prove that my Moonlight Whisper/Kraftin' Kimmie addiction is alive and well!

This 6x6 card is for the following challenges:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #66 - Musical.

Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge #13 - Chocolate, red and pink plus some hearts.

Inspirational Card Sketches - Sketch #49

and Allsorts Week 35 Challenge - pink and brown.

The papers are all from the Basic Grey Bittersweet collection and the tiny seed beads and ribbons are from my stash. As you can see I flipped the sketch slightly as it seemed to suit the shape of the image. I left the stamp uncut as I liked the little picture that it created and coloured it with Pro-markers.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Four turtle doves!

So here are the first two Turtle doves on this little card featuring a gorgeous Kraftin' Kimmie/Moonlight Whisper image called Clara.

I bought this stamp a few weeks ago but have been saving her until now. This image of Clara with her birds is perfect for my Sister-in-law and my Mom-in-law's cards as they both keep doves.

This first card is the one that I made for my SIL and her hubby. I got busy with my Promarkers and then cut out the image. The script background is a very old Christmas greetings stamp from Hero Arts that I love. I edged the backing paper with Stickles and added four little pearls. This was a very simple card to make, but I am pleased with the effect. The gorgeous backing paper is from my recent blog candy win over at Beth's.

There are more cards to follow, but first I just wanted to signpost the way to The Stamp Man blog hop that will be taking place between Christmas and the New Year.

Looks great fun, and thanks for the info Vicky, I'll be playing along!

My next two cards feature a cute little turkey that Lynne sent me a few weeks ago.

Isn't he adorable? Just the perfect image for my friend Jacquie and her family, and also for my very dear friend Rob. The brown and blue card, with the slightly more masculine colour combo is for Rob.

BTW, if you want to find out the true meaning of the Twelve Days of Christmas' song please take a look at this fascinating post over on Lynne's blog.

This next card is for my Mom's friend Pat and her husband. I didn't do too well with the light effect on this card, but it's still cute!

This final card is the one that I made for my sweet Mom and Dad-in-law and has the other two of the four Turtle doves on it!

My MIL loves her doves, and I have to admit that there is nothing nicer than sitting in the garden with pretty white doves circling above your head on a summer evening.

There is, however, one problem with keeping doves and that is that it attracts other doves and pigeons into the garden. Last year a new bird appeared on the scene. Although he was quite pretty and 'dove-like', he had some brown patches on his wings which suggested that he also had some pigeon ancestry. He also had a very bad attitude and so we christened him 'Bad Bertie'. Bertie made himself very much at home and took to bossing and bullying the other doves. Eventually things got so bad that my MIL tried to shoo him away, but Bertie took no notice.

My MIL decided that drastic measures were called for so she got a cardboard box, lined it with an old jumper and popped Bertie into it. My In-Law's took a ride out to one of the villages a few miles away and carefully released Bertie, who flew away into a clear blue sky.

They returned home, feeling happy and relieved.

When telling me this tale my Dad-in-law delivered the punch line with relish '... and when we got home Bertie was there waiting for us'.

Yes, who should be strutting around the bird table but Bad ol' Bertie, tired but happy after a great day out. Bertie still has plenty of attitude but is now treated as one of the family!

That's about it for the Christmas cards folks, but I just want to say thank you so much to you all for visiting my blog, and thank you for your kind comments and your friendship, it really means so much to me.

Happy Christmas everyone, I hope it is fun filled and magical!

Merry and bright!

This is another wonderful stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie.
Her name is Anthoinette and I just had to make her s-l-i-d-e across this card on her little skates!

I've never made a penny slider before and approached the whole thing as if it was a major engineering project. I rarely make templates but I have to admit that making a template for the 'hill' with the slot in it was a good idea as it helped to get the positioning correct.

The blue background is covered with embossed snowflakes from a stamp set that has lost it's label. The sentiment is from a new set that will be appearing again very soon, so I'll give you all the details then. I added a cute little tag for Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge #4 (Tag you're it!) and then went totally OTT with the glitter glue. This card doesn't look quite how I had imagined, however I am quite pleased as this is my first attempt at a penny slider!

I still feel really poorly so I'm going to tidy up, get a hot chocolate and settle down to watch Day 4 of the fabulous Kristina Werner's 25 days of Christmas. It's a snowman window card today!

Happy 5th November to everyone in the UK.
Needless to say I will be keeping Custard in this evening as he is very frightened of fireworks.

Happy crafting everyone!

Cupcake heaven!

This is the second of the brilliantly quirky stamps from Kraftin' Kimmie that I bought last week. Her name is Francesca and here she is wandering in cupcake heaven. Francesca the cupcake queen is my entry for One Stop Craft Challenge #52 . It's their Blogaversary so the theme is 'Celebration'. This card is for a former work colleague, who is celebrating her birthday next week so I think that fits nicely.

This beautiful stamp, and the one that I featured in this post, are the artwork of the talented Annie Rodrigue. Annie's fabulous website is called Moonlight Whispers and from there you can hop across to her blog .

I'm excited to see that Nikki has just announced plans to stock the current range of Kraftin' Kimmie stamps, plus some new Moonlight Whisper stamps over at BunnyZoe's Crafts. I will never have any money....

I'd like to say a big thank you to the lovely Dolly (Vicky), who has sent me a 'Making Smiles on Faces' Award! Guess who now has a big smile on her face!

Receiving this award made me realise that I never got around to posting 7 things about myself after getting an award from Paula. The Making Smiles Award asks for just 5 snippets of personal information, so I think that this mini biog will work for both:

1. I was delighted to read earlier today that the adorable Lucy Abrams is only 5 foot tall. Hurrah for miniature card making folk, and welcome to my world as I am only 5 foot and 1 inch tall. And that's a very crucial inch let me tell you!

2. The first thing that attracted me to my wonderful hubby was his dazzling smile. I have to confess that even after all these years that smile still gets me every time!

3. I was so excited about trying to squeeze in a little crafting before going to get my hair cut this morning that I forgot to wash! You will be pleased to hear that I put this right as soon as I realised, but honestly talk about a one track mind!

4. I was a quilt maker before I was a card maker and still have a chest of drawers full of fabulous fat quarters and quilt wadding.

5. Custard is named after Custard the Cat in the cult 1980s British children's cartoon series 'Roobarb and Custard'. Our Custard is black and white, rather than bright pink and he has a much sweeter nature then his namesake.

6. I drive a bright red VW Polo and have called 'her' Minty!

7. We went to see Green Day at the LG Arena last night and they were amazing!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog or you are one of my much valued fabulous following friends please grab this award from my sidebar as you are all people who make faces smile!

Hugs to you all!

One of a kind!

Isn't this little lass amazing?
Drawn by the fabulous Annie Rodrigue, she is called Charlotte and comes courtesy of Kraftin' Kimmie!
If you are not yet acquainted with Kraftin' Kimmie I highly recommend a visit to her shop and to her inspirational blog, which is called Kraftin' Kimmie's Korner. Sweet Ms K. also has a challenge site which is currently running the theme 'Shades of Autumn'.
If you go to Kimmie's shop you will find a helpful list of worldwide stockists.
I purchased Charlotte, and her friend Francesca, from the lovely Elaine at Quixotic Paperie.

This is a two challenge card as I am also entering Charlotte and her little friends for The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #55. This week DT girl Cathy has chosen 'Orange + one other colour' as the challenge theme. I was a bit concerned about whether I had enough orange in my stash, but I need not have worried as I re-discovered a whole load of yummy orange, rust and apricot card stock that I had forgotten!

I dusted off that sweet Cuttlebug folder, added a little Fiskars punched edge and sprinkled some Diamond Stickles to work it's sparkly magic yet again!

Happy crafting everyone!